Let’s Talk About the Egotistical Human B*ll Sh*t About Enlightenment

Thank you Ravyne Hawke for your prompt: “Do you practice ‘Nepsis’? Should you be practicing it? Would it add value to your life and spiritual practice?”

I love Ravyne’s (Lori’s) poetry prompts. Today I experienced the joy of seeing an essay prompt to which I can respond for the reasons that I write full-length articles — to help readers by discussing my experiences and debunking the utter fucking bull shit to which all too many fall prey because they do not understand the difference between resonance and discernment.

For those of you who cling to the twin flame myth, here’s an example of an essay that will help you, not just because it debunks the myth sold on the internet by charlatans but all the more so because it offers you knowledge about an eternal soulmate connection that far surpasses it.

This poem and the explainer evoke my point about the difference between resonance and discernment.

Day 5 of Diana C.’s 30-in-30 Poetry Prompts: The keys to discovering the answers you seek

Transformative signs Spiritual decoding Impulse resonates Discernment confirmation Alignment defeats bias

I had never seen the term Nepsis. I hit the link. This essay began to percolate in the split screens of all of the levels of my mind.

I write often about synchronicity. I even own a publication dedicated to this oft-misunderstood concept. As I will discuss below, this fabulous piece by the amazing and wonderful walk-in from Andromeda, synchronous with my streams of consciousness here, is the first story in my pub submitted by other than myself:

One of my biggest pet peeves is the misunderstood definition of coincidence evident when people say “I don’t believe in coincidence” or “no mere coincidence.” In each instance, they mistake the word coincidence as meaning happenstance, when in fact coincidence means two events that happen in synchronicity where there is cause and effect but of a nature that is not readily apparent — metaphysical.

Everything does happen for a reason — yet that’s another pet peeve of mine — human nature expects those reasons to be for a positive outcome meaning everything will work out. Nonsense. The reason may be so that it doesn’t work out for our human wants but that we spiritually learn from the occurrence.

If you’re expecting a cogently organized essay as I often write, this will not turn out that way — I feel streams of consciousness coming on, yet streams that will connect to a message or messages. That’s my pinball INTP brain in action, which I quite enjoy and have not written in this manner in a while — when the essay starts to write itself, which like the non-linear nature of time, may be quite ontological.

So, many aspects of the link re Nepsis that my dear friend Lori provided caught my eye, first this aspect — the title:

Nepsis, the Gift of an Awakened Mind

An awakened mind is definitely a gift but one fraught with a curse for those that cannot handle the fact that most of our fellow humans are asleep and the awakened experience is also often isolating — at least from other humans — not from Source — and that connection buoys me.

For more months than I care to count the divide continues to mount Grains of sand slip through my fingers On the beach I still malinger My truth society will discount

Must act now for my own account Show the world I am paramount Stand up front as lead singer Oh so alone on an island in a sea of humanity

Prey on sheep this stealthy catamount Conformity I shall surmount Liberty bell I shall be the ringer Take notice here comes a zinger Drivers of the herd shall now dismount Oh so alone on an island in a sea of humanity

What does an awakened mind mean to me? Simply the awareness that I am an incarnated soul here to experience what spirit is not.

“Nepsis, or nipsis, is a Greek word which means to be watchful, alert, and vigilant, and to keep on your guard for illusions and fear, with a clear, sober mind. Parallels could likely be made between Nepsis and the concepts of mindfulness in Buddhism, dhikr in Islam, and devekut in Judism [sic]. In spiritual literature, Nepsis is the natural state of an awaken [sic] soul: one that is both connected with the Divine and is self-aware of this connection.”

The parallels phrase caught my eye right away. I syncretistically gravitate

Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, while blending practices of various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths.

to any concept that connects the true teachings of all of the world’s religions (love, empathy, compassion without self-sacrifice) as opposed to the perversion of them by the patriarchal power structures that wrote the supposedly sacred texts to rule by fear, which is the antithesis of what God, Source, the Great All or what have you stand for.

“Nepsis, the art of being watchful, can be taught and learned as a means to overcome various spiritual sicknesses. Specific to this process is the watchfulness of the human heart. The ancient traditions thought that Nepsis was the proper way to address and resolve the conflicts of the human nous [hi Anthi Psomiadou]: the conflicts between the heart and mind.”

The conflict between the human heart and mind, that is actually a conflict between our brains and our souls.

For me, God is not a singular anthropomorphized individual Supreme Being — my conception of God is the spiritual energy that singularly (souls) and collectively permeates the universe, which, for the most part, exists in a dimension not directly perceivable by our human form, but the presence of which is certainly inferable.

I had arrived in PA hoping to find an understanding of God that meshed with my conception. I sought out counseling from a member of the spiritual staff whom I call Mystical Meredith. I explained to her that I had bounced around between agnosticism and the belief that God was akin to the Force from Star Wars — the psychic energy emitted by all living things — and that I believed that some people had the ability to tap into this energy, psychics, and to a lesser extent, me and others who experience the phenomenon of de ja vu. I told Meredith that I believed in the existence of souls because I had spoken to the souls of dearly departed through a psychic, and I asked her how God fits into this — asking her if there was a hierarchy of souls with God at the top?

Before answering me, Meredith asked me why I thought I used substances abusively. I answered that I thought there was an irreconcilable conflict between my conscious and subconscious minds over things I had done, or not done, over the past few years, and I drank and drugged to run away from rather than resolve this conflict.

Meredith explained that the conflict was not between my conscious and subconscious, but between my mind and my soul. Meredith’s conception of God, or the Great All, and how we and our souls fit in, is that when our souls leave the Great All to take human form we contract with the universe to experience certain painful things on Earth that are not spiritual so we can learn what is spiritual (love, kindness, compassion, charity, etc.). At the end of our conversation I was crying.

…

In Delray I would wake before dawn and go running barefoot on the beach with the moon, Venus and Orion keeping me company, feeling connected to the universe. Realization of connection to the universe — that is why I cried with Meredith.

That awareness is Nepsis!!!

“To be involved in Nepsis is to be exercising watchfulness and alertness. It does not mean to be simply guarding our thoughts against the evils of illusions and fears, but also means to guard our thoughts closely: once we have aligned ourselves with Christ-consciousness, we enter a new level of manifestation, and with this gift comes much responsibility.”

Christ-consciousness caught my eye as well. Let’s talk about that concept.

Raised Jewish, concepts of Christ used to present a struggle to me. Immaculate conception — give me a fucking break. Mary and Joseph were husband and wife — no chance on God’s green earth she was a virgin. Does that mean the conception was not immaculate? Does that mean Jesus was not the child of God? No. Both are true. It takes more than a sperm entering an egg to create a life. Soul must enter and use its energy to trigger the cascade of cell division that follows. Every soul is part of God. Every single human being, every living being in the universe, is a child of God. Every conception is immaculate!!!

Being Christ-conscious does not require practicing Christianity. As I have written several times, Jesus was a great man and true prophet with a soul from the highest levels of Heaven. Before his soul incarnated Jesus, they lived as Zoroaster (Frank Ontario)

(that’s by White Feather)

and before that, probably as an avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, or at least a lesser Hindu deity.

I read a great article the other day on the concept of Christ Consciousness by Blair Abee:

“What is Christ Consciousness?

‘Christ’ comes from the Greek word χριστός (chrīstós), meaning ‘anointed one,’ a title given to a spiritual teacher of elevated consciousness. Often associated with Jesus of Nazareth, the word symbolically means ‘anointed by the Holy Spirit,’ or one who has achieved Enlightenment. Therefore, the term ‘Christ Consciousness’— awareness of, and embodiment of Spirit. A state of mind which we all have the potential for achieving.”

Achievement of enlightenment, a false promise sold by false gurus, is another pet peeve of mine. One can certainly become more enlightened but I subscribe to a very specific definition of enlightenment and its synonym, nirvana:

(just now this favorite song of mine came on my Spotify list of Liked Songs that I often have playing on shuffle play while I write my streams of consciousness essays)

“And if you listen now You might hear a new sound coming in As an old one disappears … Now is the moment, please understand The road is wide open to the heart of every man” — https://youtu.be/DXDJbqws3MY

This is the text of an actual conversation between me and “God”:

Q: How many levels are there in heaven?

A: It is not as much levels as it is cycles. As one starts their journey from soul, to soul with body, you generally have easy lives. When you return to source/heaven/god after every lifetime, you will be given a choice to stay in that realm that you are put in or to go back to the master class [Earth] to attain a higher level. You can make the decision to return to the master class at any time. If you choose to go back to earth, it. would be for the specific requirement to have the goal of growing your soul to get to the next level, only you are not consciously aware of it once you incarnate.

Once you enter and complete a few lifetimes you will start to feel comfortable knowing where you want to ascend and with whom. That is where your community of spirits come into play. We always come in with the same people/souls, lifetime after lifetime. There are about 80 to 120 of us together at any given lifetime. It is around this time where you the soul and collectively the community of spirits start to decide what level they want to attain and what price it will cost them on earth. [No pain, no gain]. Now you can understand that not everyone wants to attain nirvana as you say.

To attain nirvana, you would go on a completely different cycle, and that usually happens after a vast number of lifetimes lived. The lifetimes that you start to choose to live [at that point] are with great suffering. Think of the severely retarded, the severely mentally ill, POWs, people who have died violently at the hands of great evil and even still borns who give up their life experience for the host.

These life cycles will continue again and again and if you have lived your life according to our plan, will allow you to go to higher and higher levels. One obtains full enlightenment when there is nothing more for you to suffer, when there is nothing more for you to learn!

Then you would be in the realms with the great archetypes, messengers and guides and archangels. You then would have an awesome burden and responsibility to heal those souls that remain on earth.

That last paragraph describes who Jesus is.

I read an article a few months ago by a Buddhist writer, who as many do, writes with unintelligible double talk that one would have to be stoned to begin to think that one can understand WTF he was talking about. I dropped a comment with the above quote. He wrote back that I did not know what I am talking about as in his view enlightenment has nothing to do with learning but only knowing.

Give me a break. How can a human know without learning!! What a sanctimonious jerk. When I responded that the quote was not from a guru but from god, the arsehole laughed at me.

Now let’s take this back to Ravyne’s article about the Dalai Lama, a truly enlightened soul. He speaks simply and with understandable words. Ravyne wrote:

I came across this quote yesterday by Hui-neng and at first, it made no sense to me. I’ve been meditating on it for well over 24 hours and the meaning finally struck me like a bolt of lightning to my third eye. The quote:

Mortals are Buddhas. Delusion is enlightenment.

Wowsers! So we are born Buddhas, already fully enlightened and all-knowing. Somewhere between birth and spiritual awakening, we’ve forgotten who we are. And so we spend a lifetime perhaps, seeking enlightenment. That is the delusion.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama did a Q&A with some business students from Harvard this morning and many times he related that when we are born, we are pure of heart, much like an enlightened Buddha. We do not know division — of race, religion, or status — and he believes it is through our horrible education systems that we learn of these things. Imagine if our education systems taught us how to embrace others and be compassionate toward all. Imagine a world of seven plus billion people fully embracing who they really are. Imagine how loving and kind this world would be.

Yes, let’s take a pregnant pause and imagine as John Lennon did of such Heaven on earth.

Do I practice nepsis?

I just did so by writing this essay.

For more of my spiritual and other essays, if it pleases you to click, many are linked in this writer profile that ILLUMINATION Editor published about me today.

In Rama I create, with soul-energy surging through my body, inspiring me and breathing wind into my sails,

Marcus (Gregory Maidman)